Warning message

Toronto  The Ontario Electricity Coalition (OEC) is launching a hard-hitting campaign to “elect a public power” government in the upcoming provincial election. The campaign will be launched at a public forum to be held:

The evening will be hosted by comic Greg Malone, the star of the Codco television series. Speakers include: John Wilson, former Ontario Hydro board member, Paul Kahnert of the OEC, and Keith Stewart of the Toronto Environmental Alliance.

“We’re going to wade into this election with a very hard-hitting message to Ontario voters. Every hydro bill in Ontario is lying to voters about the incredible cost of deregulated electricity, and the threat of blackouts is growing  we’ll make sure this haunts every Conservative MPP at the polls,” says Paul Kahnert of the OEC.

The Ontario Conservatives are hoping that the hydro rate freeze they announced at the end of last year will appease voters and quell public discontent over electricity deregulation.

“But we’re going to make sure voters wake up to the Conservative’s scam. The fact is that hundreds of millions of public dollars started flowing to private electricity producers in May 2002, and that flow has actually increased since the premier introduced his phony rate freeze in November.

“The mounting cost of the so-called rate freeze, and the growing threat of blackouts, are proof positive that Mr. Eves’ backtracking on the electricity reforms are mere political maneuvers which do nothing to fix the mess and instability he created,” adds Kahnert.

The OEC is travelling the province, “alerting voters and blowing the whistle on Premier Ernie Eves’ rate freeze. We’re sounding the alarm on his plans to sell off 65 per cent of Ontario’s electricity generating capacity. Unless the Conservative’s electricity policies are defeated, Ontario will face an electricity crisis far worse than the crisis of 2002,” says Kahnert.

The OEC will present its election message and election materials at the public forum on March 6.